Leonardo Bruni Julia Cultien. Gaetano De Sanctis Marie-Laurence Desclos. Jacques-Louis d' Estrebay ? Edward Seymour Forster Tristano Gargiulo. Christian Garve The National Assembly began the process of drafting a constitution. The Declaration of the Rights of Man , adopted on 26 August eventually became the preamble of the constitution adopted on 3 September A twelve-member Constitutional Committee was convened on 14 July coincidentally the day of the Storming of the Bastille.

Its task was to do much of the drafting of the articles of the constitution. Many proposals for redefining the French state were floated, particularly in the days after the remarkable sessions of 4—5 August and the abolition of feudalism. For instance, the Marquis de Lafayette proposed a combination of the American and British systems, introducing a bicameral parliament , with the king having the suspensive veto power over the legislature, modeled to the authority then recently vested in the President of the United States.

The main controversies early on surrounded the issues of what level of power to be granted to the king of France i. The Constitutional Committee proposed a bicameral legislature, but the motion was defeated 10 September —89 in favor of one house; the next day, they proposed an absolute veto, but were again defeated — in favor of a suspensive veto, which could be over-ridden by three consecutive legislatures. Their greatest controversy faced by this new committee surrounded the issue of citizenship. Would every subject of the French Crown be given equal rights, as the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen seemed to promise, or would there be some restrictions?

The October Days 5—6 October intervened and rendered the question much more complicated. In the end, a distinction was held between active citizens over the age of 25, paid direct taxes equal to three days' labor which had political rights, and passive citizens, who had only civil rights. This conclusion was intolerable to such radical deputies as Maximilien Robespierre , and thereafter they never could be reconciled to the Constitution of Because the National Assembly was both a legislature and a constitutional convention, it was not always clear when its decrees were constitutional articles or mere statutes.

It was the job of this committee to sort it out. The committee became very important in the days after the Champs de Mars Massacre , when a wave of revulsion against popular movements swept France and resulted in a renewed effort to preserve powers for the Crown. The result is the rise of the Feuillants , a new political faction led by Barnave , who used his position on the committee to preserve a number of powers for the Crown, such as the nomination of ambassadors, military leaders, and ministers.

Redefining the organization of the French government, citizenship and the limits to the powers of government, the National Assembly set out to represent the interests of the general will. The National Assembly asserted its legal presence in French government by establishing its permanence in the Constitution and forming a system for recurring elections.

French Constitution of 1791

The Assembly's belief in a sovereign nation and in equal representation can be seen in the constitutional separation of powers. The National Assembly was the legislative body , the king and royal ministers made up the executive branch and the judiciary was independent of the other two branches.

The Assembly, as constitution-framers, were afraid that if only representatives governed France, it was likely to be ruled by the representatives' self-interest; therefore, the king was allowed a suspensive veto to balance out the interests of the people. The constitution was not egalitarian by today's standards. It distinguished between the propertied active citizens and the poorer passive citizens. Women lacked rights to liberties such as education, freedom to speak, write, print and worship.

Keith M. The National Assembly wanted to reorganize social structure and legalize itself: while born of the Estates General of , it had abolished the tricameral structure of that body. With the onset of war and the threat of the revolution's collapse , radical Jacobin and ultimately republican conceptions grew enormously in popularity, increasing the influence of Robespierre , Danton , Marat and the Paris Commune.

French Constitution of - Wikipedia!

The Amity Kids and the Temple of Abaddon.

Fifty years of constitutional evolution in France: The amendments and beyond.